“According to a reliable source, he recently complained that NATO is ‘as bad as NAFTA,’ the North American trade agreement, which he considers anathema to US interests. Missing from this perspective is NATO's 70-year record of advancing democracy, trade, and security as the most successful alliance in history.”

Furthermore, many are concerned that “Trump will offer Putin concessions without consulting with NATO partners. When Trump met with Kim, he agreed to stop military exercises with South Korea, without giving South Korea any advance notice.”

NPR

One former international economic adviser to President George W. Bush states, “In the past, Europe did not doubt that U.S. interests and values were fundamentally aligned with theirs… Now they wonder whether they can count on us in times of crisis without our first checking to see if they are current on their rent or royalty payments… The decline in confidence is palpable.”

New York Times

The right is looking forward to the conference as an opportunity for Trump to push for more equitable contributions from other NATO members.

Some suggest that “an American tariff on European cars linked to defense spending might be enough of an incentive to bestir Germany, France, and even Italy to invest more in their own defense… If they remain content to rely on us to defend them, they are going to have to understand that their sovereignty depends on us, and that we will extract the large cost from them one way or the other.”